Colonel Sam Thorpe, a member of the anti-terrorist task force, must go undercover and train the Patriots, a homegrown militia in central Pennsylvania. His job: get close to self-appointed general Quentin Oliver and uncover the core of evil. Oliver, a disgruntled ex-Marine colonel, plans to steal cesium-137 from a local university and construct seven dirty bombs. During training sessions, Sam also uncovers a link between Oliver and the French Separatist Movement in Quebec. The world is in trouble, and Sam is isolated with only one person in his corner: FBI covert agent Alex Prescott, a kick-ass woman with spiked blond hair and a personality to match. Will she be enough? Or is the world about to realize its worst nightmare?

Dead Center (Rookie Club #1) by Danielle Girard - Previously published by Signet as "The Rookie Club" in 2006

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Fifteen years ago, the Rookie Club began as a tight-knit band of female cops struggling for respect from their male peers. Jamie Vail was one of them. So was Natasha Devlin, the woman Jamie caught in bed with her husband.

When Natasha Devlin turns up dead, Jamie wants nothing to do with the investigation. As a seasoned inspector in the sex crimes department, Jamie is facing her own terrifying case—female officers are being brutalized by a stranger leaving no clues. The Rookie Club is under attack, possibly by one of their own.

Now, Jamie must confront her past and solve the murder of her ex-husband's lover before she becomes the killer's ultimate prize.

Allington ( Grey Wolf ) has concocted an entertaining WW II thriller which follows the adventures of Derek Carr, a gambler and former arms smuggler blackmailed into working for British intelligence. Carr's task: to penetrate a German commando operation led by a Cambridge-educated scholar and soldier named Kordt. Kordt's mission, "China Blue," is to cache munitions in India for use by invading Japanese forces now poised on the border. With Kordt is the historical figure of the independence fighter, Subhas Chandra Bose, accompanied by members of his nascent anti-British Indian National Army. Carr infiltrates "China Blue" through a wealthy Anglo-Indian beauty, Ashley Vora, a fervent supporter of Bose. Their affair is unconventional enough to serve as a welcome break from the unrelenting tension of the main plot and the more ambiguous relationship between Carr and Kordt. Allington's descriptions of Carr's escape from a German dungeon guarded by cobras, of his epic fight to the death with Kordt's seven-foot bodyguard and of the climactic confrontation between hero and villain after the German has single-handedly destroyed the Bombay docks, are riproaring stuff, stylishly written. Fine background detail adds depth to this engrossing thriller as Allington also evokes the beauty, poverty and mystery of India.

Death of an Obnoxious Tourist by Maria Hudgkins is free. #1 in the Dotsy Lamb Travel Mysteries. #3 was free last month. Also the audio version is $1.99.

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A traditional mystery set in Italy. Dotsy Lamb, history professor and recently divorced empty-nester, and her friend Lettie are on a group tour of Italy when an obnoxious woman traveling with her two sisters is murdered in her Florence hotel room. Dotsy enlists the aid of the scatty but observant Lettie and hooks up with the attractive carabinieri captain in charge of the investigation.

The killer may be a member of their tour group, a gypsy from a nearby camp, or any of four other people they've met since their arrival. There are motives galore. The murdered tourist has insulted practically everyone, her sisters have a monetary interest, and there may be a drug connection.
This story takes the group from Milan to Venice, Florence, and Capri. The action takes Dotsy and her friends on a gondola ride around Venice and through many of the sights of Florence: the Accademia, the Uffizi, the Arno river, the Piazzale Michelangelo, the ,a gypsy camp, and the caserma of the carabinieri.

Of interest from this month's 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less - The Devil's Redhead by David Corbett for $2.99. Crime fiction from Open Road.

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In this masterfully written fiction debut, David Corbett combines a gripping crime story with a poignant tale of enduring love.

Freelance photographer and wildcat smuggler Dan Abatangelo blows into Vegas to hit the tables and taste the night life. In his path waits Shel Beaudry, a knockout redhead with a smile that says, Gentlemen, start your engines. The attraction is instant–and soon the two are living the gypsy life on the West coast, where Dan captains a distribution ring for premium Thai marijuana, His credo "no guns, no gangsters, it's only money."

But the trade is changing. Eager to get out, Dan plans one last run, judges poorly, and is betrayed by an underling and caught by the DEA. To secure light time for Shel and his crew, Dan takes the fall and pleads to ten years. Now, having served the full term, he emerges from prison a man with a hardened will but an unchanged heart. Though probation guidelines forbid any contact with Shel, a convicted felon, he sets his focus on one thing: finding her.

Shel’s life has taken a different turn since her release from prison. She met Frank Maas, a recovering addict whose son died a merciless death. Driven by pity, Shel dedicates herself to nursing Frank back from grief and saving him from madness. But his weaknesses push him into the grip of a homegrown crime syndicate in command of the local methamphetamine trade. Mexicans are stealing the syndicate's territory, setting in motion a brutal chain of events that engulf Frank, Shel, and Dan in a race-fueled drug war from which none will escape unscathed.

A brilliant crime novel of betrayal and retribution, passion and redemption, The Devil’s Redhead heralds the arrival of a powerful new voice in fiction.

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David Corbett was a private investigator at Palladino & Sutherland in San Francisco for nearly fifteen years, working on a number of high-profile criminal and civil litigations, including the Cotton Club Murder Case and the People’s Temple Trial. In 1995 he retired from investigative work to open a law practice with his wife, Cesidia Tessicini, a long-time advocate for the disadvantaged and the AIDS afflicted. She died from ovarian cancer in January 2001. He currently lives in northern California.

Kiss Her Goodbye by Allan Guthrie is $.99. Originally published by Hard Case Crime.

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Nominated for Edgar, Anthony and Gumshoe awards, KISS HER GOODBYE is a hard-hitting crime novel about a violent man confronting the reality of his daughter's death.

Violence is Joe Hope's business. When people in Edinburgh want to borrow money, they go to Cooper. When they don't pay it back, they get a visit from Joe Hope.

But now Joe's got problems of his own. His teenage daughter is found dead, an apparent suicide. Then the police arrest him for murder.

But for once in his life, Joe's innocent – and with help from Scotland's hardest men (and one of Scotland's hardest women), he sets out to find the person who framed him and deliver his own brutal brand of justice. After all, somebody has to pay.

Taking the best elements from two of his most outstanding bestsellers, The Gold Coast and The General's Daughter, Nelson DeMille combines the breathless suspense of an expertly wrought murder mystery with his wry perspective on a peculiarly American social scene to deliver an enthralling and compelling story.

Wounded in the line of duty, NYPD homicide detective John Corey convalesces in the Long Island township of Southold, home to farmers, fishermen -- and at least one killer. Tom and Judy Gordon, a young, attractive couple Corey knows, have been found on their patio, each with a bullet in the head. The local police chief, Sylvester Maxwell, wants Corey's big-city expertise, but Maxwell gets more than he bargained for.

The early signs point to a burglary gone wrong. But because the Gordons were biologists at Plum Island, the offshore animal disease research site rumored to be involved in germ warfare, it isn't long before the media is suggesting that the Gordons stole something very deadly. Suddenly a local double murder becomes a crime with national and worldwide implications.

John Corey doesn't like mysteries, which is why he likes to solve them. His investigations lead him into the lore, legends, and ancient secrets of northern Long Island -- more deadly and more dangerous than he could ever have imagined. During his journey of discovery, he meets two remarkable women, Detective Beth Penrose and Mayflower descendant Emma Whitestone, both of whom change his life irrevocably. Ultimately, through his understanding of the murders, John Corey comes to understand himself.

Capture by Roger Smith is free on Amazon US on 11/5 main
Not free on UK site at time of posting

Personal Recommendation: I recently read four Roger Smith thrillers in the course of 10 days. They're all centered around the epidemic levels of violence and child abuse currently afflicting Cape Town, South Africa, and the consequences of that what happens when post-Apartheid depradation bumps into post-Apartheid white privilege. These books (Mixed Blood, Wake Up Dead, Dust Devils, Capture, and novella Ishamael Toffee) are some of my favorite reads of the past year. I can't recommend them highly enough.

DESCRIPTIONAs four-year-old Sunny Exley drowns in the icy waters off a luxury beach house, her father, Nick, smokes weed on the shore and her mother, Caroline, is lost in the arms of a lover. Hidden on nearby boulders, rent-a-cop Vernon Saul watches the child die and chooses to act only when it is too late.
In the days following Sunny's death, gutted by grief and guilt, Nick falls under the spell of Vernon who presents himself as a friend in time of need. When the sinister Vernon's true motives are revealed, Nick is drawn into a spiral of manipulation and murder that leaves him fighting for his sanity and his life.

PRAISE FOR ROGER SMITH

"Smith writes with the brutal beauty of an Elmore Leonard in a very bad mood. " THE WASHINGTON POST

"Smith has a unique ability to plunge readers into his nightmare visions." THE TIMES

"If you are a fan of George Pelecanos or Dennis Lehane, give Roger Smith a close look." BOOKPAGE

A family of four is slaughtered in rural Tennessee.
Two weeks later, a retired high school principal and his wife are brutally slain.
Two Satan-worshipping teens stand accused.

It’s up to prosecutor Joe Dillard to convict them. A former defense attorney who spent way too much time defending people he knew were guilty, Joe is determined to win this case to atone for his past. But an evil young woman named Natasha is responsible for the slayings and Joe knows it. Natasha is walking around free because the two boys who have been arrested are too terrified to implicate her. Now Joe must risk everything -- including his family's safety and his own life -- to bring an evil murderer to justice.

WINNER OF THE EDGAR ALLAN POE AWARD FOR BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL. --- Retired private eye Jake Spanner may have gotten old, but he hasn't gone soft. When an old gangster Jake put away some forty years ago shows up at his door, it's time for Jake to grab his hat and Browning automatic and get back to work. Old? Sure. Slower to catch his breath? Maybe. But, sharp as a tack and with a lifetime of investigating know-how, Jake Spanner has nothing to lose and everything to prove. Sniffing out leads between Sunset Boulevard and the Hollywood Hills, Jake pulls in old friends to help. The work is hard; it's gritty. So is Jake. And, with a three quarters of a million dollars ransom at stake, the bad guys don't stand a chance. With THE OLD DICK, author L.A. Morse creates a new kind of hero, one that laughs at death not because he's too young to understand it, but because it's right around the corner. It's time to face it head on and maybe go out swinging. For more from L.A. Morse, check out THE FLESH EATERS, THE BIG ENCHILADA, and SLEAZE, sizzling thrillers also published by E-Reads.

Los Angeles is a hot town. Hot women. Hot clubs. And, when private eye Sam Hunter is involved, hot tempers. Sam doesn't take kindly to threats, so when a street thug busts up his office and warns him to "Stay away from Domingo," he might as well draw Sam a map pointing where to swing his fists. Soon, Sam finds himself racing around L.A., dodging bullets and spiraling deeper and deeper into a world of sex, drugs and danger. A teenage porn star, an heiress and some spoiled rich brat lead Sam to the Black Knight club, a place dark enough to hide heroin and sleaze from the bright lights of the law. What will he find when he finally reaches Domingo? Big rewards or a deadly end? From Edgar Award-winning L.A. Morse, author of THE FLESH EATERS and THE OLD DICK, comes the thrilling story of pimps, pushers and porn that will hit you in the chest like the kickback of a Colt .38 Special.

Los Angeles private eye Sam Hunter doesn't have a soft side. Everything about him is a hard as a knuckle to the face. So, when a call for help comes in from a trashy porn magazine, it's not out of the goodness of his heart that Sam takes the case. It has more to do with the curves of the magazine's sizzling-hot editor. The magazine is called Sleaze, and that's exactly what has made it the target of a fanatical cult, one willing to shed blood to cleanse its "holy land." Soon, Sam finds out that morality and sin aren't so black and white as his investigation slides down a path towards X-rated videos, a Tijuana corpse, and thugs that want Sam dead. Unfortunately for them, they've chosen a hard man to kill. From L.A. Morse, the Edgar Award-winning author of THE FLESH EATERS and THE OLD DICK and THE BIG ENCHILADA, comes another electrifying tale of Sam Hunter, a low-down, dirty fighter who takes a hit and hits back harder.

Hopefully all these links are affiliate-free since I started in each case with the top-level URL and went from there. If they aren't, I didn't mean it!